Electrothermal controlling apparatus.



Fm 24 i7 w. 0. HAYMOND M. 0. POTTER.

ELECTBOTHERMAL CONTROLLING APPARATUS. ,APPLICATION FILED JULY 7l 1909. RBNEWED'JULY 28,?1910.

987,228. Patented 11111.21, 1911.

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ELECTROTHERMAL CONTROLLING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent'.

Patented Mar. 21, 1911.

Application led July 7, 1909, Serial No. 506,341.y Renewed July 26, 1910. Serial No. 574,004.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that we, WALTER O. HAY- MOND and JOHN O. Porran, citizens of the United States, Aresiding at Muncie, in the county of kDelaware and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful -Electrothermal Controlling Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a controlling apparatus designed for use 1n connection with heating systems whereby the supply of hot and cold air or other media can be automatically regulated to maintain a temperature in a room or rooms of a house or building approximately uniform.

The invention has for its objects to improve and simplify the construction and operation ofapparatus of this character Aso as to be com aratively simple and inexpensive to manu acture and install, reliable and efficient in use, and so designed as to require vvery little current to operate the same.

With lsuch and other ob'ects in view, as

Awill appear as the descriptlon proceeds, the

invention comprises the various novel featuresv of construction and arrangement of parts which will be more fully described ereinafter and set forth with partieularity in the claims appended hereto.

In the accom anying drawings, which illustrate one ern odiment of the lnvention, Figure 1 is a sectional view in elevation, showing the application of the regulating apparatus to a hot air box and dampers for controlling the-heated and temperate air.

- Fig. 2kis an-.enlarged plan view of the damper operating device. .Figl 3 is a per-l s ctive view of the switches `included in the t ermostatic circuit for controlling the 01perating motor. Fig. 4 is aside view of t 1e switches and means forv operating the same. Fig. 5 is a view of the circuit controller for the motor. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of one of the controllers. Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of the circuit connections.

` Similar reference characters are employed to designate corresponding parts through-v out the views.

In the present instance, we have elected to illustrate the invention in connection with a heating system in which hot and cold'air y are separately admitted to the heating flue or duct, according to the required temperature in the room orl rooms supplied by such duct, but it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to this use.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the duct which may supply one or-more rooms with air through a register 2 and this duet is adapted to communicate with a hot air chamber 3 or cold air chamber 4, the communication between the duct and chambers being controlled by butterfly valves or dampers 5 and 6 which are operatively connected with a link 7 in such a manner that when one `valve is open, the othcr'iisl closed orvice versa, with the result that either hot or cold airis admitted to the duct 1. The dampers are actuated by an apparatus designated generally by A which includes an electric motor 8 whose shaft 9 is connected with a worm shaft 10 mounted in a frame 11, and meshing with the worm on the shaft- 1is a vwheel v12 which is secured toa short rotary shaft 13 journaled: in a pedestal or standard 14. The shafti 13 has securedv thereto a crank arm 15 which is connectedby a link 16 with the damper 6 so that as the crank arm turns, the Valves will be oscillated to and from open or closed position, the link and crank arm being so proportioned that when the valves are in either extreme position, the crank arm will be on its deadcenter,

` 'The' electrical system includes two independent circuits, one for the motor and the other for the thermostat. For opening and closing the motor circuit, electro-magnets 17 and 18 are employed, the windings of which are included in the thermostatic circuit so as to be energized when the temperature in a given room reaches a predetermined minimum or maximum point. The cores 19 of the electromagnets are included in the motor circuit and are connected by a wire 20 with one terminal of the motor, and associated with each core is an armature 21` which forms the movableelement of a 'with the motor and in this wire is a cut-out nated 24 and 25. The other terminal of the c l connecting box is connected by a wire 26' switch 27 and also an adjustable resistance 28 for controlling the speed of rotation of the motor. As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the cores of the electro-magnets are insulated 'from the supporting plate 29 in which the various devices of the apparatus are mounted, thewinding of each electro-magnet being confined between disks 80 of insulating material, and these disks are attached to brackets 81 for securing the electro-magnets on the base plate 29. The armatures 21 are each carried by a spring 82 so arranged as to hold the armature spaced from its core while permitting the armature to be drawn toward and in engagement with the latter when the electro-magnet is energized.

In the room to be heated is arranged a thermostatic indicator designated generallyr by B which is of substantially the same construction -as'rthc indicator disclosed in the United States Letters Patent No. 898,648, granted to us September 15, 1908. 'Iuhe thei-mostatic circuit is of th'e three-wire type and consists of wires 88, 84 and 85 connected, respectively, with the binding posts 86, 87 and 88 of the indicator B The wire 84 forms a common return for the current and is connected with one of the terminals of the connecting boX 28 and includes an adjustable resistance 89 whereby the current can be regulated. The wires 88 and 85 are connected, respectively, with electro-magnets 18 and 17, while the electromagnets are, in turn, connected by wires 40 and 41 with the other terminal of the connecting box. It will thus be seen that the windings of the electro-magnets are arranged in shunt relation. Included in the wires A88 and 85 are' switches or circuit breakers 42 and 48 each consisting of a pair of insulated springs so designed as to engage each other under their normal tension. .These contact springs are mounted on a bracket 44, Figs. 8 and 4, secured to the base plate 29 in such relation to the crank arm 15 of the damper operating mechanism that the said arm is adapted to open the switches alternately during the actuation of the said mechanism. The contact springs s are disposed in the path of the crank arm and are adapted to be moved outwardly thereby to separate from the springs s. The springs s are arranged at diainetrically opposite points from the center ofrotation of the crank arm so that when the latter reaches either dead center, it will open one of the switches and thereby .cut out the electro-ma et that is maintaining the motor in circuit. The binding posts 86 and 88 of the indicating device B are electrically connected with adjustable contacts 45 and 46 with which the needle 47 is adapted to engage as the temperature falls and rises.

In describing the method of operation, let

it be assumed that the cold air supply has been cut off and the hot air supply opened to the duct 1, and the temperature inthe room supplied by the register 2 is rising. The needle or hand 47 is consequently moving from the contact 45 to the contact 4G by the expansion of the thermostat connected with such needle. It will 4be observed that the switch 48 is closed so that as soon as the circuit through the thermostat is coinpleted by the maximum rise in temperature, current will iow through the path consisting of the wires 24, 40, and electro-magnet winding 17, wire 85, contact 4G, needle 47, the common return wire 84 and wire 25, and supply circuit. The electro-magnet 17 being thus energized, causes thc motor circuit to be completed so that current will flow through the path consisting ot the wires 24, 22, armature 21, and core of the electroinagnet 17 wire 20, motor 8, wires 26 and 25. The motor is thus actuated so that the power-transmitting mechanism or gear between it and the damper is brought into operation for reversing the latter to the dotted line position, thus admitting cold air to the duct 1 and closing off the hot air. As the crank arm 15 turns during this movement of the dampers, the switch 42 automatically closes, and when the crank arin reaches its opposite dead center, the switch 48 will be opened to thus cut out the electroinagnet 17 which controls the motor switch. When this electro-magnet .is thus cut out of circuit, the motor circuit, in turn, is opened by the armature 21 separating from the core 19 of the magnet 17. lVhen the temperature falls to a minimum point, the needle 47 engages the contact 45 so that the circuit including the electro-magnet 18 will .be

closed, which actuates the other motor switch to again connect the motor in circuit. The dampers are consequently reversed to admit hot air to the room and the operating device will then be in the position shown in Fig. 1.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantagesof the construction and of the method of operation will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while we have described the principle of operation of the invention, together with the apparatus which we now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, We desire to have it understood'that the apparatus shown is merely illustrative, and that such changes may be made when desired as are within the' scope of the claims appended hereto.

Having thus described thefin'vention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a thermal regulating system, the combination of a device controlling the iow of the heating medium, an electric motor,

`connected with the motor, a crank associated with the wheel, a connection between the crank and said device, a thermostat, separate circuits for the motor and thermostat, electro-magnets included in the thermostat oircuit, switches controlled b the electro-magnets for opening andl closing the motor circuit, and switches included in the thermostatl circuit and arran gaged and opene by the said. crank arm driven by the motor to cutout the active electro-magnet and open the motor circuit when the said device has reached the end of its movement.

2. In a system of the class described, the combination of a device for 4controlling the supply of heating medium, an electric'niotor, a worm connected with the shaft thereof, a Wheel meshing with the worm and operatively connected With the said device, a air of switches arranged at o posite sides o the axis of the wheel and eac 1 including a pair of springs normally contacting with each other, a device rotating with the Wheel for alternately engaging one member of each switch to open the same by separating the members, an electro-magnet connected with each switch, a thermostat connected with each switch and electro-magnet for closin 7 the circuit through one of the switches and one of the electro-magnets, a circuit for the motor in which the cores of the electro-mag. nets are included, and armatures associated with the cores for forming switches for d to be alternately en-l closing'the motor circuit when either electro-magnet is energized. v

3. In a system o the class described, the

combination of a damper operating mecha- I nism, a motor for .actuating the same, a plurality Aof electro-magnets, a circuit 4for the motor in which the cores of the electro-magnets areconnected in shunt relation for current to pass therethrough, contacts connected in the saidcircuit and arranged toengage the cores for completing the circuit through either of the latter, a thermostatic device, a three-Wire thermostat circuit vconnected therewith, the said device including means for providing a path for current through the same when the temperature rises or falls to a predetermined position,

the windings of the electro-magnets being.

included in two of the wires of the thermostat circuit, switches included in each of the last-mentioned wires and tending normally to close, and a rotatable member included in the said mechanism -for opening one switch or the other to cut outthe active electro-magnet when the motor has completed the operation of the said damper actuating mechanism.

In testimony, that we claim theforegoing as our own, we have hereto aiixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses. WALTER O. HAYMOND.

. JOHN O. POTTER.

Witnesses: Y

HARRY LESTER-JANNEY, CLIFTON L. WALLING. 

